


Spontaneous Movie Night

by Catherine256



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, watching a film before bedtime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:09:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24184153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catherine256/pseuds/Catherine256
Summary: When little Leo couldn’t sleep and asked to watch something before bedtime Claire couldn’t refuse her son. And Neil appreciated the idea right away.
Relationships: Claire Browne/Neil Melendez
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	Spontaneous Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

> I’m just a reader most of the time. I used to write in Russian, so I’m new here. But I hope you’ll like it. And let me know if there’s any errors in my work:)

“Mama?” she heard him standing on the stairs and holding tight to the railing. Their joyful little energizer, always ready to play and have some fun. Dark haired toddler came closer to the couch and deftly jumped on it to snuggle up to his mother. And even when he supposed to be sleeping soundly in his bed but can’t really catch a dream so he went to Claire hoping she would let him stay awake for not so long she loves him so much and can’t send him back to bed.

“Why are you still up?” She took Leo on her lap and wrapped him with her in a plaid. “Something’s wrong, honey?” Claire asked looking into his green full of desire to be active eyes.

“I don’t wanna sleep, mommy,” he pouted his lips just like Claire always does, though Neil said to her all the time. “Movie?” with hope in his eyes he asked.

“And then you’ll go to sleep?” Claire squinted her eyes but continued to gently stroke Leo's curly hair.

“Promise,” he quickly said.

“Oh, and where’s your daddy? He put you to bed, didn’t he?”

“He fell asleep reading me fairytales,” Claire laughed and realized that she had to go check on her husband, and it is better to put him in their bedroom and not leave him in the room of their four year old.

“Sit here for a bit, I need to check on daddy real quick and then I get back in a few, okay?” She asked sweetly, leaning her hands to his soft baby cheeks.

“Okay.”

“And no running around,” she said on her half way upstairs.

“Sure, mama,” his voice sounds a little funny as if he's getting ready to do something, well maybe running.

She went up to Leo’s room and saw Neil sleeping in a completely uncomfortable position, he sat across the bed and half-moved down, but the upper part of his back pressed against the wall behind and his head leaned forward. Today was a hard day. Three surgeries, one after another. He didn’t even have time to eat anything during the day and he was constantly on his feet. But then he came home and had so much energy as if he had forgotten about his previous tiredness when he saw Claire and Leo meeting him with hugs and kisses. He even played hide and seek with Leo and then volunteered to put him to bed missing the kid for a day. It’s not a surprise that after all of this he was able to fall asleep in completely uncomfortable circumstances.

Claire leaned over him and stroked his messy hair lightly. Neil made a weary dissatisfied sound tiredly, but then he nevertheless opened his eyes when Claire carefully took his hand in hers and touched his chest with her free hand. She’d like to give him a good night's sleep and it would be much better if he was comfortable in their bed instead of huddling here.

“Claire?” Neil rose sharply and immediately regretted it, his back went numb and became even more tense than after a working day. He whined slightly and began to rub his neck and upper back, trying to get rid of muscle pain. “Ugh, that was rough,” he said, finally opening his eyes and darting them to her.

“Oh, my poor boy,” she said and helped him out of bed taking both his hands tightly. “You need some good rest. Let’s go to our bed, love,” she pulled him along to exit the room.

He stopped for a second and pulled Claire closer to him gently wrapping her in a hug. She let out a moan of relief when she realized that for the first time that evening they were so close to each other. Her hands began to cautiously travel along his back and stroked exactly those places where the muscles were tensed the most working out the knots, and gradually Neil relaxed. Feeling his hot breath at the base of her neck, his soft lips, which slightly opened and began to slowly move along her skin, Claire pulled her head off of his shoulder and their lightly foggy eyes met. Her hands first touched his sides, then moved to his strong chest and went up to the nape of his neck. Neil watched the movement of her loving hands and bright green eyes over his body and smiled softly, but there was also fatigue in his face. She bowed her head slightly looking directly into his endless dark eyes, he gave her mischievous grin, and then his lips touched hers feeling relief from their connection. His hand slipped up to her head and pulled her closer, digging his fingers into her hair and deepening the kiss. Neil felt through the kiss that she let out a satisfied moan, while her fingers slowly moved along the back of his neck and touched the points that she knew brought him pleasure. She was lost in time and didn’t realize how long they stood in the middle of their son’s room and kissed like two teenagers who were finally able to remain alone.

And then Claire heard “mommy” and then “daddy” from the living room. She abruptly pulled away from Neil and almost fell accidentally stumbling and tangled in her legs. But he managed to catch her in time and again to hug her. They both breathed heavily. And when they looked into each other's eyes they laughed at how ridiculous the sharp end of their kiss was. Their lips met again only for a few seconds.

“We need to go down and see what our little spitfire has done again” he stated holding Claire’s waist.

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “I missed you,” she said finally and touched his cheeks.

“I missed you, too. And our baby. So much,” Neil gently tucked in a strand of her hair. “But you know what? We have tomorrow day off and can spend it together, just the three of us. No work. No dealing with something. Just us and a good time.”

“That would be nice,” she said and then they heard their son again with the sound of something falling down.

“Let’s go, mommy,” he said sweetly.

“Go, daddy,” she took his hand and squeezed it, smiling at him.

Neil trembles every time he hears their son calls them mommy and daddy, ‘cause even after 4 years of life as a parent this still feels new. And he especially likes that the woman he loves madly is the mother of their amazing kid.

When they were down they immediately saw that the small bowl in which they usually put the keys now lies on the floor near the front door. But it didn’t crash, which is surprising. They rushed to the kid to make sure that he was okay. While Neil lifted the bowl of the floor and put all the keys back in place, Claire moved toward Leo, who was jumping on the couch and dropping all the pillows and a blanket to the floor, trying to catch him.

“Hey, it’s night already where’d the energy come from?” she deftly picked up her son and put him on her hip.

“Sorry, I was bored and you said you would be back soon, but you didn’t,” he pouted his lips and crossed his still a little baby-chubby arms.

“You shouldn’t have messed up here. That bowl could break and you could get hurt, baby,”

“I’m sorry, mommy,” his face was slightly extended, eyebrows raised and anxiety froze in his eyes.

“I love you, please, just don’t do it again, deal?” Leo nodded immediately and Claire kissed his temple. “So, movie and then sleep?”

“Yes, mommy,” his cute smile returned to its former place. “You told me about the film where there was a wizard boy and a magic school...”

“Harry Potter?” Neil joyfully answered for Claire. “I haven’t watched it for so long, it will be great!” He took the boy in his arms and gave him a hug before kissing the crown of his head.

Claire reassuringly stroked Leo’s back and caressed his curly hair. Neil moved his free hand to his wife’s cheek, then jawline and stopped under her chin lifting her head up a little, he leaned down to her lips and left a few pecks with his own charming smile to her.

“So, you want to watch Harry Potter or is it just your daddy?” She asked the kid with a chuckle, directing to her husband.

“I do, too,” he answered quickly.

“You needed some rest, Neil. You sure you don’t want to come to the actual bed and get some sleep?” Claire is concerned.

“Hey, I’m fine, mi amor,” he smiled still a little tiredly but more excitedly. “And I’m gonna watch Harry Potter for the first time with our son. That’s a memorable moment.”

“Yes it is, love” she tenderly touched his forearm. “By the way, I was ten when the first film of the series was released on DVD and I watched it for the first time,” Claire suddenly remembered.

“Really? Oh my god, I almost forgot you are THAT younger than me,” he looked at her in surprise and laughed a little when he noticed her raising his eyebrow and smile. “I was in my early twenties,” he clarified more for their curious son than for Claire, who looked at her two beloved men together and couldn’t be more grateful for that they are in her life. “And the film was still superb. I watched it with my little sister.”

“Auntie Gabi liked it then?” Leo asked his father.

“Of course. Film’s amazing. You’ll know soon, baby,” Neil continued to convince his son that the film is incomparable, especially for kids. “And what about you, my young girl?” They all chuckled together.

“Well, I watched it with my friend at her family’s house and that was fantastic... even though my mother didn’t come for me for several days,” Neil noticed Claire’s stunning green eyes suddenly stopped glowing with the same joy and smile has gone after remembering her mother. But after a few seconds she smiled reassuringly at her husband when he gave her an anxious look.

“I’m sorry, Claire. Are you okay?” Neil came closer to her again and his lips leaned down to her forehead. He soothingly stroked her shoulder with a hand.

“Sorry, mommy,” said their adorably worrying baby and he held out his hands to her so she took him in her arms.

“Don’t worry. Now it’s alright,” Claire hugged Leo tightly and he laid his head on her shoulder. Neil embraced both of them and squeezed a little and made them chuckle. He still couldn’t imagine a better place than just being with these two, Claire and Leo.

They finally connected everything they needed on the TV to turn on the movie. Claire couldn’t even say who was more excited about this, her son or her husband. Both of them looked slightly agitated. Neil was delighted that he would share this wonderful moment with their son and Claire, and Leo was also glad that he was allowed to stay up late and spend more time with his mom and dad. Because sometimes they work too much, especially in the last few months when they have more difficult cases than usual, so after long days like that they have absolutely no strength even to have dinner, and Leo sees his parents only for an hour in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. That’s not enough, and they all know that. But they are trying so hard to keep balance between working and resting. And their absolutely brilliant and intelligent son understands everything even at his age and doesn’t take offense at his parents for having too busy days occasionally when either Claire or Neil stay on long shifts in the hospital. Even if they come home too late and both are tired as hell they always spend time with their son before his bedtime. And they always tell Leo how much they love him and appreciate his understanding. And they hug him all the time they can, and kiss him. And tell him they love him again.

Neil sat next to Claire on the couch and put Leo to his lap. He covered all three of them with a plaid and asked the joyful kid, “Ready?” Leo quickly nodded and holding the remote Claire pressed the play button.

While the film was on Leo managed to sit down on the soft carpet and pull off of the couch a couple of pillows not taking his eyes off the screen in complete delight with what was happening in the film. Claire moved as close to Neil as possible. He hugged her tenderly with both of his hands and laid his head on hers smelling apple shampoo and a faint smell of peach, which still remained on her neck from morning perfume. But they both were more struck by the incredible feeling of joy that they continue to rediscover so many things with their son, who still had to learn the whole world. And they couldn’t be more happy to help him with it. Claire and Neil carefully watched how different emotions changed over Leo’s face throughout the film, and they exchanged glances with each other kissing and smiling from how amazing it was to show their baby a movie that still means a lot to different generations. It will be wonderful if faith in miracles and magic and the importance of friendship will help his personality to develop.

Neil’s fatigue faded when he was watching the film and Leo’s reaction. He couldn’t help but smile all the time seeing the happy kid. Their happy kid. Neil leaned closer to Claire’s ear and whispered, “I love you, mi amor. Thank you.”

She looked up and met his shining eyes. “Oh, I love you, too, so much,” She pecked his lips and then they both gently touched their child’s head, who looked up at them with a smile for a second and then returned his gaze to the screen.


End file.
